Crisis and challenges of marketing promotion in the first half of 2019!

The first half of 2019 is about to pass. This year can be said to be a year in which the overall situation is relatively complicated.

The number of monthly active mobile Internet users in China reached 1.136 billion, a year-on-year growth rate of 3.1%. This is the first time that there has been a month-on-month decline for two consecutive months.

For the marketing industry, due to the poor performance of overall macro data, the overall performance is relatively low and confidence is insufficient.

But challenges always coexist with opportunities. While we face challenges, opportunities also arise. The opportunity lies in the fact that various new marketing forms are truly being actively explored by platforms and brands. Moreover, according to historical experience, increasing marketing investment in an environment of economic downturn can make brands more competitive in the later stages.

But where is the competition? Where are the opportunities?

In this regard, we have summarized the marketing industry in the first half of the year into ten key words:

Three crises, three opportunities, and four points of hesitation.

1. Three crises

1. Content Risk

At the end of February, Mimi Meng took the initiative to cancel her account and disbanded the team. The trigger was the controversy caused by an article titled "The Death of a Poor Scholar" under her account "Talented Youth with Limited Talent". On April 23, Sohu punished 459 accounts in 7 days and Baijia banned 13,518 accounts, all for reasons such as vulgar content. In addition, many self-media accounts in the financial field were also banned in the first half of the year, and Curiosity Daily was once again stopped from updating.

The content risks are self-evident. In addition, the international and economic situations this year are relatively complicated, and the standards for content review have become increasingly stringent. Brands need to be extremely careful in creating marketing content, have more control over the content that goes out, and establish a review process to avoid causing a public relations crisis.

Of course, this also means that brand marketing needs to carefully analyze the risks. At the same time, the overt and covert public relations wars between brands have become more heartbreaking, and public opinion has become more uncontrollable.

2. Fission ban

In mid-May, WeChat officially issued a statement reiterating its ban on fission marketing. In mid-June, WeChat issued an announcement to crack down on marketing plug-ins, and the entire online education industry was in mourning. Many people will also find that accounts using related WeChat automation tool software are more likely to be blocked.

The past two years were the days when fission marketing was very popular, but all the signs this year indicate that the marketing dividends of social fission have ended. It has become very difficult for new players to achieve rapid growth through fission, which has also forced brands to find other ways to grow.

Of course, the fission methodology is still used by many brands, and many WeChat-based marketing SAAS systems have related functions of fission marketing, which strictly speaking belong to induced forwarding. For brands, if they want to continue using the fission growth method in the WeChat ecosystem, they may need to pay attention to the risks of being complained about and reported.

3. Routine desensitization

As for WeChat Moments marketing, there have been no new forms of gameplay for a long time, and users are gradually tired of the old-fashioned marketing methods; as for Tik Tok short videos, there has also been a certain aesthetic fatigue in the short video routines.

In short, users have been fully educated by a large number of screen-sweeping cases and have become aesthetically fatigued with current marketing tactics.

The only screen-sweeping cases that impressed us in the first half of the year were "What's Peppa Pig" at the beginning of the year and the recent "Breeding Manual" by NetEase Dada. Of course, there are also projects such as Shared Dad and JD.com Appliances advertisements, but it is hard to say that they are screen-sweeping. Obviously, users’ threshold for marketing cases is already very high.

Maybe the era of screen swiping is over.

2. Three opportunities

1. Private domain traffic

WeChat's crackdown on the fission of Moments and marketing has brought about the rise of private domain traffic. In fact, private domain traffic is similar to the concept of traffic pool. In practice, it focuses more on communities and personal accounts, and its operating techniques are similar to those of WeChat business (but many people are unwilling to admit this).

The method of building private domain traffic is different from traditional brand investment. It requires manpower investment in operation and more refined operation. This is something that traditional brand marketing departments are not very good at. It is difficult to find brands on the market that can use private domain traffic well, but this is also where the opportunity lies. We also believe that the biggest opportunity for private domain traffic lies in the operation of brand communities.

Whether it is a startup or a mature brand, whoever can build and monetize private domain traffic will be able to grow against the trend in the red ocean era. The imagination of private domain traffic also lies in the fact that brands can even become channel parties in the future, and revenue will therefore be more diversified.

2. WeChat awakens

WeChat is no longer restrained. In the first half of the year, the frequency of WeChat's proactive external voices and product adjustments has increased significantly. Kanyikan and Haowoquan have been launched one after another. The rules in the WeChat ecosystem may loosen and change, and every adjustment of the platform means opportunities and dividends.

For Kanyikan and Haowoquan, it is equivalent to extracting the content flow and product flow of the circle of friends separately to form a new circle of friends. At present, Kanyikan has become more and more mature, while Haowoquan is still in its early stages. With the imagination of social e-commerce, Haowoquan will definitely give birth to a wave of Internet celebrity brands, but now everyone is still exploring the relevant gameplay.

3. Live streaming by influencers

The monetization ability of live streaming has long been verified by platforms such as Momo and Kuaishou. Taobao is also vigorously promoting live streaming sales, and WeChat official accounts have also opened live streaming test invitations. Judging from the current reported data, live streaming can effectively increase product conversion rates and stimulate user product consumption.

Li Jiaqi, the "Lipstick King" who became popular in the first half of this year, has become the king of sales in the beauty category. In fact, Li Jiaqi used to participate in live broadcasts as a counter employee at L'Oreal. He can be regarded as a live broadcast influencer incubated by L'Oreal. This fully demonstrates that brands can take the lead in live broadcasts instead of passively investing in them.

With the popularization of WeChat Live and Taobao Live, the consumption power of users will be released on a large scale. This is also an area that brands need to focus on and try in the future.

Three or four points of hesitation

1. Social Entrepreneurship

Although social entrepreneurship is not strongly related to marketing, social networking is the jewel in the crown of Internet products. Changes in the social product landscape involve changes in marketing platforms, which have a huge impact.

From last year's Yinyue, to the "Three Musketeers" of Duoshan, Liaoliaobao, and MaChong, to ByteDance's Feiliao, and then to Zhang Chaoyang's Huyou, more and more people have begun to challenge WeChat. Entrepreneurs have been targeting Zhang Xiaolong one after another. Zhang Xiaolong once complained helplessly, "Every day 100 million people teach me how to make products."

The rise of social entrepreneurship does indicate that the stable social product structure may be loosening. WeChat has now become a time black hole that makes users unable to leave once they come, and users love and hate it.

However, we believe that changes in the social landscape are likely to only exist in the process of platform change, and it is highly likely that only Tencent can create the next WeChat. But no matter what, the social battlefield never ends.

2. Tik Tok fatigue

Judging from the data, the benefits of short videos have peaked. The video routines on Douyin have caused aesthetic fatigue among many users, and it is not easy to see where short videos will go.

It is unlikely that the overnight fame of Answer Tea will be replicated on Douyin, nor is it likely to create another hit toy known to the entire network (such as last year’s Supreme banknote pistol and Peppa Pig watch). The maturity of the platform has made the explosive dissemination dividend fade away. But Douyin is obviously still an important platform, and there are still many opportunities for it to spread beyond the circle.

According to the feedback we have received from multiple parties, the conversion effect of paid advertising on Douyin is relatively average, and the ROI may not be calculated. Many brands will consider investing cautiously.

In addition, the marketing value of Kuaishou has attracted the attention of more people. The decentralization and social stickiness of Kuaishou have enabled the platform's KOLs to gain more trust endorsements, and the monetization efficiency through live streaming and other methods has been higher, thus increasing the marketing value.

3. Content inconsistency

The failure of routines has magnified the role of content, but content often has long-term value and is not cheap in terms of labor costs. Many brands know the importance of content but are very hesitant about whether to invest in it. This is especially true for traditional brands, which may not have an operations department in the company, so building a (new media) content team is a difficult task.

Many brands are overly optimistic about the short-term effects of content, hoping to quickly copy a viral picture or text. In fact, for most brands, the traffic brought by content is accumulated over time. Don't be too optimistic in the short term, and don't be too pessimistic in the long term.

For WeChat, the value of in-depth content is recognized by almost everyone. For new platforms such as TikTok, content is almost the only means to achieve screen-sweeping dissemination. But content creation is not as easy as it seems, and brands’ struggles with content will continue.

4. Cross-border fashion products

Limited edition items and IP cross-border integration are still an effective way to stimulate social topics. In the first half of the year, the Starbucks cat claw cup at the end of February and the kaws Uniqlo T-shirt at the beginning of June both caused a buying frenzy. Among them, various co-branded products such as RIO, White Rabbit, and Want Want also achieved good market response.

However, there is already a certain aesthetic fatigue when it comes to marketing methods such as IP cross-border and limited-edition products. It is not easy to reach the height of last year's "national tide". More importantly, these marketing methods are only suitable for brands with strong brand assets, and it is difficult for new brands to apply them.

Take the White Rabbit lip balm for example. This cross-border product is jointly launched by White Rabbit and Maxam, but the voice of White Rabbit in the market is obviously greater than that of Maxam, and this is all due to the long brand history of White Rabbit. Therefore, cross-border play may only be a game for a few big brands.

There is still a lot that can be said, for example, brands have begun to like to tear each other apart, the long text and pictures seem to have warmed up a bit, and patriotic marketing may be targeted by many brands... But in today's complex environment and changing situation, we might as well take a patient look at the brand marketing performance in the second half of the year.

Due to the influence of the macro environment, the advertising market has shrunk significantly in the first half of this year. Whether it is from third-party research reports, financial reports of advertising giants such as Baidu, or personal feedback from practitioners around me, advertisers' budgets are generally much lower than before, and everyone is prepared to tighten their belts.

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Author: Spread Gymnastics

Source: Spreading Gymnastics ( chuanboticao )